Andrew Seidman And Jonathan Lai, Inquirer Staff Writers.
Locked in a struggle to reshape Rutgers University, New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney last week declared a de facto three-month cease-fire even as he seemed to issue an ultimatum.
Sweeney on Thursday gave the university’s two governing boards – of trustees and governors – 90 days to act on recommendations laid out in an internal Rutgers report.…
Read moreBy Andrew Segedin, Staff Writer, The Montclair Times.
With debate over standardized testing and Common Core standards roaring in Montclair and districts throughout the state, the New Jersey General Assembly approved a bill on Monday calling for a task force to consider the impact of the state’s shift to the Common Core.
Assembly Bill 3081, co-sponsored by District 34 Assembly members who represent Montclair, Sheila Oliver and Thomas Giblin, a township resident, calls for the establishment of a nine-member Education Reform Review Task Force made up of the state’s education commissioner and six gubernatorial appointees recommended by the American Federation of Teachers New Jersey, the New Jersey Association of School Administrators, the New Jersey Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, the New Jersey Education Association, the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association, and the New Jersey School Boards Association.…
Read moreBy Patricia Alex, Staff Writer, The Record.
With its entry into the prestigious Big Ten conference less than two weeks away, Rutgers University is hoping to entice donors and alumni to support a series of multimillion-dollar upgrades to its sports venues — even as it projects a deficit of more than $183 million over most of the next decade for its athletic department, already the most heavily subsidized in the nation.…
Read moreTell your legislators to hold the governor to the deal they made and demand the full pension payment be made! Tell them that the men and women who work hard for the people of New Jersey will not let their futures be risked for political gain. If the governor can find more than $4 billion in corporate welfare to hand out, he can fund the pension system according to the law.…
Read moreBy John Mooney
Senate panel hears two sides testify on task force to assess new standards, testing before results can be applied to schools, students, teachers
New Jersey’s slow dance with the Common Core State Standards and new state testing continued yesterday, with dozens of people testifying for and against a bill that would slow the consequences of that testing.…
Read moreBy Kelly Heyboer/ The Star-Ledger
NEW BRUNSWICK — Rutgers University’s governing board selected a new chairman today amid turmoil over the board’s future.
Greg Brown, chairman and chief executive of Motorola Solutions, was unanimously elected the new head of Rutgers’ board of governors during a meeting in New Brunswick. He will assume the unpaid post July 1.…
Read moreState Senate votes to expand Rutgers board
By GEOFF MULVIHILL-Associated Press
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) – A reorganization of New Jersey’s higher education system quickly became official a year ago, but some details that go along with it are still raising contention.
The state Senate pushed for changes Thursday to Rutgers University’s governing structure, passing a bill to expand the flagship school’s main governing board, despite strong opposition by campus and alumni groups.…
Read moreBy Patricia Alex, Staff Writer, The Record.
In the latest salvo in his bid to flex his political muscle at Rutgers, state Senate President Stephen Sweeney issued an ultimatum Thursday, giving the university 90 days to “reform” its governance.
“The proposition is simple: Rutgers has a chance to reform itself, or the state will reform Rutgers,” Sweeney said in a statement after the Senate’s approval of a bill he sponsored that would increase political appointees to the Rutgers board of governors.…
Read moreCONTACT: Nat Bender, 908-377-0393, nbender [@] aftnj.org
Challenges layoffs, calls on management to bargain contracts
NEW BRUNSWICK…With contracts expiring for faculty and staff while unions challenge unfair layoffs, several hundred union members met outside today’s Board of Governors’ meeting to call for fair contracts and respect for workers. Unions represent 20,000 workers in 29 faculty and staff bargaining units throughout the school since the merger of UMDNJ with Rutgers last year.…
Read moreDelivered to Senate Education Committee, June 19
To reclaim the promise of the American education system AFTNJ supports Senate Bill 2176 and strongly urges the Senate to include language for a moratorium on all consequences connected to the testing program until the study is concluded. New Jersey’s assessment program is one of high stakes not only for teachers, but for administrators, students, schools, neighborhoods and entire districts.…
Read moreBy Matt Friedman/The Star-Ledger
[…]Under the bill (S2169), new employees of school districts in 10 counties near the New York or Pennsylvania border would not be bound by the residency requirement: Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Passaic, Sussex, Warren, Hunterdon, Mercer, Burlington and Camden.
The bill would establish a pilot program requiring school districts to report each year to the Department of Education on its impact.…
Read moreBy Peggy McGlone/The Star-Ledger
If teachers are the most important drivers of student success, then putting high quality candidates to work in the state’s classrooms should be a top priority, state educators say.
Earlier this month, New Jersey education officials took an important step toward that goal by raising the standards for both entry into teacher training programs and professional certification upon graduation.…
Read moreAsk your State Assembly representatives to support Earned Sick Days Bill A2354/S785.
No worker should have to lose pay just because they or a loved one get sick. However, there are approximately 1.2 million workers in our state who are still forced to face this frustrating dilemma. The wages workers lose could easily add up to about a month’s worth of groceries – a problem that tends to impact families who are already struggling to make ends meet.…
Read moreBy John Mooney
But evaluation system NJ lawmakers enacted in 2012 likely to limit the impact of Golden State decision on New Jersey
When a California judge ruled on Tuesday that teacher tenure rights were unconstitutional and violated students’ rights to a good education in that state, the news reverberated 3,000 miles away.
But before anyone thinks it will soon change much in the never-ending debate over teacher tenure in New Jersey — or even in California — think again.…
Read moreBy Chase Brush
Controversial bills to add four governors to board could face state and federal constitutional challenges
A controversial endeavor to expand Rutgers University’s board of governors made headway yesterday when two identical bills — one in the assembly, sponsored by Speaker Vincent Prieto (D-Hudson), and one in the senate, sponsored by Senate President Steve Sweeney — were advanced and amended, respectively.…
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